


Eggs Rolls, A Mini Derek and One Big Confession.

by sterekismyotp24



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alpha McCall - Freeform, Alpha Scott, Confessions, De-Aged, De-Aged Derek Hale, Derek has blue wolf eyes, First Kiss, Fluff, Food Sharing, Full shifting Derek, M/M, Mexican Food, Original Characters - Freeform, Peter is in the know, Scott is half-clueless, Some minor fluff, True Alpha, Werewolf Derek, Wolf Derek, Young Derek Hale, mentions of Hale Fire, mentions of Kate Argent, mentions of Talia Hale - Freeform, post-season 3, pre-season 4
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 15:55:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19771540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sterekismyotp24/pseuds/sterekismyotp24
Summary: They find Derek younger and smaller in Mexico with a lot to say on how his older self feels about Stiles. Confessions follow.





	Eggs Rolls, A Mini Derek and One Big Confession.

"Is that him? Is that Derek?" Malia asks, insistently. She's staring at the — _boy_ — opposite them, he's got furrowed eyebrows and dark, ebony hair paired with a toned but smallish build. He ultimately looks...familiar. 

Stiles lets out a sound from his throat, he doesn't know what the hell is going on because this all just isn't right. "Uh, sort of..." 

The thing is, standing before Kira, Malia, Lydia and Stiles is Scott, who they all know, holding a very confusing _boy_. The boy is not Derek yet he's so very close to Derek — the Derek that they knew with his infamous grumpiness and judging eyebrows. 

Scott winces because he too, is stunned. This is not the Derek they had come looking for, nor expected to find. "Stiles, a word?" He huffs, holding onto the arguably, similar aged boy with all his strength.

And the human, Stiles, steps forward immediately, half-curious but mostly concerned because how was Derek possibly younger. "What the hell did you do to him, Scott?"

"I found him like that!" Scott protests in a hushed tone. He lets out a puff of air because Derek, even young, was a pretty hefty weight to hold up. "I was shocked too." 

Stiles snorts because he's more than shocked, he can't explain it but he does know he's really confused. They lost Derek, or he went missing, disappeared — whatever — so they came looking for him after Peter claiming that he thought Derek had said he was going to Mexico. 

Scott turns to the younger Derek and smiles wonkily at him. "Buddy...can you support yourself? You're a little heavy." 

The mini Derek moves away, his face contorting with a mix of frustration and confusion. He looks half like he's trying to control his wolf and a little like he really, really just want to sleep. "Who are you?" He spits out and wow— he sounded a lot like his older self. 

Stiles half-pouts with a deep intake of breath, this was even more difficult and confusing because Derek didn't even know who they were.

"Scott McCall." He responds, his jaw looking wonky as he grins again. He rubs his hands together and flashes his eyes at younger Derek, showing him his status.

"Alpha?" Apparently the younger version of Derek also had trouble communicating, or maybe it was just his teen attitude taking over. 

Scott nods at him, casting a sideways glance towards his best friend and replies, "Yeah. A true Alpha, have you heard of those?" 

"Yes," Little Derek says because his mother was one, she was the best Alpha. Always there for any and all of her children, showing them that she loved and supported them. There to help them deal with full moons, particularly difficult shifts and even friendship dramas. 

"Good," Stiles starts to think his friend would make a really good teacher because he's talking to Derek like a child — which he is in comparison to his usual twenty three year old self but he wasn't a toddler. Scott continues, "We're going to take you home, little guy." 

Stiles snorts at that because he had never once thought of Derek being a 'little guy'. The man had always been a beefy guy, with plenty of muscles and height, there was no way anyone would ever consider him as 'little'. 

"Where are we going to take him? To Peter? To his loft or house? Maybe even just ditch him in a different tomb wrapped in wolfsbane and hope _this_ — undos itself." He gestures towards Derek and flails slightly. 

"Peter?" Derek asks, stepping towards the human with curiosity. 

Stiles makes another weird sound because up close, Derek looks even younger. No wrinkles around the eyes, barely-there facial hair and no frown lines. "Uh, no. I was kidding, we're not taking you to your crazy uncle." 

The younger wolf looks like he's going to launch for Stiles, so Scott, like the earnest and good-hearted person he was, wedged his way between the two of them. 

"Actually, Stiles...I was thinking he could stay with you for a while? My mom wouldn't let me harbour him, she can barely afford food and electricity for the both of us." 

Stiles turns to his friend in disbelief, saying "You want me to babysit?" 

"I'm not a baby," Derek reminds him with a look that's just so Derek. 

He throws his arms in the air, giving up. "Fine! You owe me big time for this. Get in the jeep, Derek." 

The younger wolf looks like he's going to protest or at least ask something but instead, his mouth closes and he walks over to the blue car, frowning at how old and worn it looked. "Is this safe?" 

They find Lydia following the younger wolf closely, she flashes a smile at him and flips her strawberry-blonde hair out of her face. "Hardly. It's already broken down once since coming to Mexico." She plants a hand on young Derek's shoulder, squeezing lightly.

"Hey," Stiles starts as he catches up with the two of them. "We don't say nasty things about my jeep, Lydia. You know that." 

She shrugs, letting go of Derek. "Whatever," 

Derek's eyebrows furrow as he hears her name and he repeats it out loud. "She's Lydia and you're...?" 

"Oh, Stiles." He half-snorts because how could they possibly forget to introduce everyone but Scott.

"Stiles? What kind of name is that?" 

" _Mine._ Now get in the jeep." He hisses back, opening the passenger door to his jeep before darting around to the other side and climbing in. 

Derek climbs in, albeit warily, his gaze too often falling on the human beside him as the others got in — Scott and Lydia. Malia and Kira going in the latter's car since Stiles' jeep wasn't _that_ big. 

Stiles starts the engine and sets off on their long journey, knowing that this was going to be the most frustrating time of his life with a smaller, younger version of Derek asking far too many questions. Apparently, younger Derek was a pretty curious wolf. 

|°|°|°|

He drops Lydia off along with Scott, the two going to the vets to research whilst Stiles babysits the younger wolf. He's irritated that Scott even suggested that Derek stays with him, since they hardly saw eye to eye when Derek was his normal age, never mind him as an angsty teen. 

They arrive at the Stilinski home and of course, since the universe hates him, Stiles' Dad is home. Stiles hates his life in that moment as he lightly whacks his head against the steering wheel with a sigh. 

"What are you doing?" The younger Derek asks, a bemused expression crawling onto his face. One of his eyebrows lifts and he wonders if this human is always like this — clumsy and smacking himself into things.

"Just...shut up." Stiles lets out as he unbuckles his seatbelt. "My dad's home so this is going to be...um, difficult. Man, Derek Hale can never catch a break, can you?" 

Derek isn't amused as he climbs out the jeep, steaming ahead to knock on the front door. He promptly thumps against the door three times and stands back, ignoring Stiles' rhetorical question. 

Stiles squawks because young Derek apparently did whatever the fuck he wanted. He half-ran and half-tumbled as his dad opened the door, he had no idea how his father was going to react. "You _can't_ just—hey, Dad." 

"Stiles..." His Dad hisses back. "What the hell have you done now?" 

"We found him like this!" He defends, pushing his dad out the way and dragging Derek in with him by tugging at his green t-shirt. 

"Where? Swimming in the fountain of _youth_?" The older man asks his son, voice accelerating in loudness like a crescendo. He sighs and shakes his head purposely because he is truly done with his son — all the ridiculous things that he told him and that kept happening. 

" _No,_ " He defends. "We found him buried in a tomb of wolfsbane in an Aztec temple in Mexico." He scratches his head, looking over at young Derek.

Unfazed, Derek was running his finger through the dust of a cabinet in the living room, as he looked at all the family photos hanging on the beige-painted wall. 

"You told me you went _camping_." 

"We were! In Mexico...anyway, he hasn't got a clue what's going on and I'm on babysitting duty whilst Scott and Lydia research." He explains to his dad, catching Derek's attention.

"I'm _not_ a baby." He snaps before dusting his fingers off and squaring his shoulders up. "I'm hungry." 

"See, demanding like a baby." Stiles' brows flatten as he looks at his dad. "What do you want?" He hisses at the young wolf.

Derek gets defensive, his eyebrows knitting together and he vaguely flashes his wolf eyes at the more annoying of the two humans. "I didn't demand, I'm _not_ a baby. I want Mexican. And call me a baby one more time, I dare you." 

The older man in the room visibly grimaces, sitting on the sofa with a grunt. He could eat Mexican tonight too but he had work, where he'd eat some crappy salad his son had prepared for him earlier. 

Stiles stares for a long time at the young wolf, begrudgingly, before finally saying, "I'll order Mexican."

They eat the Mexican in Stiles' room because his dad isn't home so he doesn't feel obliged to eat at the dinning table. He ordered an assortment of chicken chimichangas and beef tacos, with nachos and salsa as side dishes for them to share, spread across the floor in several cardboard boxes.

Apparently Derek is a messy eater, which surprises Stiles and makes him feels a lot more comfortable with the way he chomps on his own food and spills stuff everywhere.

He — Derek — has polished off two chimichangas, one taco and several handfuls of nachos when he slumps against Stiles' desk, full. His hands land on his belly and they move around, rubbing the slightly softer than older Derek's belly. 

"Full?" Stiles asks, mouthful of nachos and salsa. 

The wolf hums, despite the dirty look he sends in Stiles' direction. He really didn't want to see the contents of the human's mouth. "So, how much exactly am I missing — from my memory?"

Stiles swallows the nachos in his mouth down and winces. "Oh, uh. Quite a lot, now's not really a good time to explain things though—" 

"Tell me." Derek growls out, trying to be threatening and although Stiles wasn't fazed by the threat, he confesses anyway. 

"Okay...I mean, I don't exactly know how old you are but—"

"Sixteen." 

"Thanks," Stiles continues, "Um...there was an accident involving a fire? It was arson and your house burnt down." 

Derek sits up a little straighter, no longer propped up against the desk as he fires his next question at the human. "My family? Are they okay?" 

Stiles makes an attempt to say something, anything else but the wolf would know he was lying. So, he had to tell him the truth. "No," He confesses. "Your older self is pretty sour about it, actually about everything — as expected. Only Peter, Laura and Cora survived but Peter is trash, killed Laura to become an Alpha and Cora...she left town a while ago." 

There's a long pause and Stiles doesn't realise until he looks up that Derek, young Derek, is _crying_. 

The human puts his taco down and reaches over to the young wolf, handing landing on his shoulder. "Hey, buddy. It's okay...you're doing better now, I think. You've got your own place, you're rebuilding the Hale house and...you've got me and the pack. Sure, that doesn't make up for all the terrible things that have happened but there's something good for you, at least I hope you feel that way."

Young Derek cries some more, swiping at his face and sniffling until Stiles gives up and decides that although this is Derek, he seems a bit less emotionally strained as a younger wolf, so he pulls the boy into his arms, squeezing around him tightly.

"They're all gone?" He asks, voice muffled as his body is curled up into a ball in Stiles' arms.

"Yeah, I'm sorry..." Stiles unconsciously trails his fingers through young Derek's hair and he pouts. "I didn't want to lie to you, buddy." 

Derek seems to settle with that, relaxing into Stiles' hold and just breathing slowly. "Thank you, for telling me."

"Derek, I really am sorry." He pulls back and watches as Derek tries to gather his emotions, he does so suspiciously well. 

The young wolf tries to wrap his head around the news, there had been an accident and his whole family was dead besides three, technically two since Laura was slaughtered by their own uncle. "There's no wonder I'm sour." He says quietly. 

"Yeah," Stiles lets out a puff of air. "But you're doing better, Derek. I'm not sure how many times you're going to need me or someone else tell you that the fire wasn't your fault but I do think you're slowly starting to realise that there's nothing you could have done."

The young wolf is quiet for several moments, internalising everything the human says and subtly trying to understand his older self. The thing is, he could feel his wolf at ease when Stiles was around, like all of his rage to keep in control disappears and is replaced with something stronger. He shifts on the spot, slumping against the desk again. 

"I wish I could take your pain away, Derek." The human mutters with sigh and begins gathering the cardboard boxes together, putting all the leftovers into one tub. 

"You like him — the older me, right? You two are close?" He's curious. The wolf inside him is settled when usually it's trying to crawl it's way out and anger is the only thing that reigns it in — but he's not angry. 

Stiles splutters, feeling slight blush creep onto his face. He had definitely had a few dreams about the older Derek Hale but he was hardly going to admit that... "Uh—yeah, I guess. We mostly argue though, I mean...I'm sarcastic and he's brooding, that's just kinda how it works." 

Young Derek nods understandingly, he doesn't get it really but he's trying. "I think he — the older me — likes you." 

He splutters again, choking on a nacho which he had shoved into his mouth moments before. He swallows it carefully and lifts his eyebrows at the wolf. "I don't think so, Derek's _not_ —he doesn't like people, especially me. Derek finds me annoying and threatens me all the time." 

"You should reconsider what you think." Small, younger Derek tells him with an unreadable expression on his face. 

To Derek, Stiles was his anchor. He was the only person who could push and push at him, past his tolerance level and he still wouldn't harm a single hair on his head. Stiles felt trustworthy, safe and like he would protect Derek no matter what. 

Stiles finds himself staring, so grabs the leftover containers and pops them on his desk as an attempt to distract himself. He clears his throat and turns to Derek. "Anyway, I'm going to text Scott. To see if there's any updates, not that you're not cool buddy but...old Derek would be pretty pissed about not staying in his own home for the night." 

"Okay," Derek nods.

"Cool," The human grabs his phone, dialling his best friend's number as he gathers the leftover boxes to refrigerate. The other picks up on the second ring as he's half-way down the stairs.

Young Derek vaguely listens, hearing how exasperated the Alpha — Scott — sounds. 

Stiles tucks the leftovers in between milk and cheese in the fridge door, slams it shut and makes his way back up the stairs.

There's nothing they can do to change him back to his older self except wait for it to happen, which could be hours, days, weeks or maybe months.

Stiles sighs loudly, before hanging up and throws himself back into his bedroom, facing the wolf. "Looks like you're staying the night."

He watches the human gather clothes for him, a thin t-shirt and some blue pyjama bottoms. They're thrusted into his hands and he carefully unfolds them, noticing how they were incredibly soft.

"Thanks," 

Stiles' head tips, "I'll turn around, okay?" He tells him and does so, changing into his own pyjamas too. 

"I don't mind," The wolf states as he throws off his olive t-shirt and tugs his jeans down. "I'll sleep on the floor." 

"Are you sure?" Stiles asks, turning around because the wolf _did_ say he didn't mind. He throws his t-shirt on over his head and watches as Derek does the same. "I don't mind sharing, as long as I get to keep at least one of my pillows. I can't sleep without them." 

"No, it's okay." Derek says earnestly, pulling up the pyjama bottoms and trying not to succumb to his urges of scenting the clothes because Stiles' scent was strong and intoxicatingly good to his wolf. He wasn't sure how the older him ignored it all the time. 

"Okay...well, I'll get you a few blankets and a couple of pillows." The human shifts, pulling blankets and extra pillows from his wardrobe and plopping them on the floor beside his bed. "Make yourself at home."

So, young Derek does. He places the pillow besides Stiles' bed, leaving enough room for the human to get in and out of bed but making sure that they're still close. Then he stacks a couple of the blankets up to make it comfier to sleep on the floor, until he climbs on top and curls up underneath a final blanket. This one was furry and dark, like what his mother's fur had been like. 

Stiles climbs over the young Derek-shaped blob buried under blankets and flops onto his own bed, yawning as he lands. 

"I meant it, you know."

Stiles freezes before rolling over, facing openly his room but still unable to see the young wolf because he's positioned _that_ close to his bed. "Huh?" 

"The older me likes you a lot." Derek softly as he caresses the blanket, finding it comforting that it resembled his mother and it was _Stiles'_.

"Alright," The human responds quietly. He was thankful it was dark, he was blushing because who knew that Derek Hale possibly liked him? He launches himself up, sitting with his covers bunching on his knees. "Derek, are you...purring?" 

" _No_ ," The wolf responds back immediately, he was _not_ purring, or at least wasn't going to admit it. 

|°|°|°|

Derek wakes up uncomfortable. The t-shirt that he had on felt too tight, the pyjama pants felt tight and, well, he didn't wear pyjamas. Adding to that, his heart began to thunder against his chest because he was engulfed in Stiles' scent. His eyes opened and he sat up with a start, half-choking on Stiles' scent. 

He remembered last night, wanting to smack himself in the face because he, as his younger and oblivious self, had told the human that he liked him. It was not how or when he had wanted to confess and he had definitely just outed himself to the human. He starts pushing the covers off himself and gets tangled in the process.

"D...Derek?" Stiles mutters out, eyes still shut but his body moving to firmly plant himself against the mattress on his belly. 

"Yeah?" His voice was rougher than he had expected, so he forced himself to clear his throat.

Stilling, Stiles opens his eyes which connect immediately with the not-so small Derek sat up on his floor, buried in blankets and hair disheveled from sleep. "Hey, you're...well, you again." 

Derek casts a glance in Stiles' direction, his heart still thudding against his chest too quickly as he sees the human looking squishy and soft tucked in his bed. "Yeah," 

"Would you..." Stiles clears his throat and shifts, sitting up in his bed. "Do you remember what happened? Peter said you were going to Mexico?" 

Derek finds himself nodding and responding with ease, "I was going to Mexico because Kate's alive. She must have done some ritual on me to make me young again." 

Stiles runs a hand through his own hair and gently rubs his eyes. "Why?" 

"I don't know," 

"How's she alive?" 

"I don't know." 

Stiles nods, realising he will have to research and by researching, he will need to ask around. "Peter killed her, right? He clawed her throat out...so, to be alive Kate would have to be supernatural? Is it possible you turn people through a scratch?" 

"He did," Derek finds his way out of the blankets, cringing out how tight the pyjama bottoms looked on him. They were a little short too. "And it's possible, just rare." 

"So...Peter could have turned her?" 

"The triskelion..." Derek says out loud, realisation hitting him like a cool, winter breeze.

"Eh? Triskelion...what—" 

"Peter used it to teach me control, it's just a little wooden thing but the coping mechanism used with it can help you with your control." 

Stiles' face scrunches for a moment until he sobers up and unravels himself from his duvet and blankets. "Born wolves have to learn control?" 

" _Yes_ ," Derek half-growls. "She must have taken me back to when I trusted her, I was hardly going to give it her now after...after." 

Stiles understood. The fire. Kate knew that there was no way Derek would just hand over the triskelion to her after she killed his whole family and tortured him several times, so she did a ritual to de-age him to a time when he trusted her. "It's a good job you're...you again then, right?" 

"Yeah," He grunts. After a few moments, the wolf continues, "I don't feel different, though." 

"What do you mean?" An eyebrow twitches on Stiles' face, curiously. 

"I feel weaker." Like a part of his wolf had been stolen, taken away, against his will. As everything with Kate was including his virginity and almost his entire family.

"Well," Stiles half-snorts, rubbing his eyes for a moment. "You _did_ age up seven years in twenty four hours." 

Derek wants to growl but resists the urge, instead choosing to send Stiles a cold stare as he explains, "No, I feel like my wolf isn't as strong as it usually is. Like the power has been sucked out from my wolf." 

"Okay, well...we'll figure it out. I should tell Scott he doesn't need to research anymore since you're...you again." He reaches for his phone which was on his bedside cabinet and shoots his best friend a text saying:

Derek's normal. Or as normal as he usually is. No need to research anymore. 

Then he turns to Derek again, his heart picking up its pace as he watches the man ruffle his hair around. 

"What?" The wolf grumbles out, pulling his hands out of his ebony hair and glaring directly at the human.

"Nothing. You remember that Kate made you younger, so I take it you remember everything else that happened, at least briefly?" He starts pulling at his pillow, plucking random bits off fluff off it and tossing them onto the floor. 

Derek was hesitant. He blinks and half-sighs, breathing heavily through his nostrils. "I remember everything, Stiles." 

"Okay." Stiles let out a puff of air and his heart accelerated some more. 

He wasn't sure if he was ready to act on young Derek's suggestions about normal Derek or if they were even true. The younger wolf could have been toying with him because he knew Stiles had a thing for him, small or big. 

"So, uh—do you remember purring last night? What was that about?" He asks innocently, as if younger Derek hadn't told him a single thing. 

"I _wasn't_ purring," The wolf finds himself watching Stiles carefully, his eyes searching Stiles' looking for something the human didn't understand. 

"Were you comfy, is that it?" He half-snorts, smiling at the wolf who seems to relax at his joking tone.

Derek's shoulders slump and a small smile slips onto his lips, they curve smoothly and naturally despite all the frowning and brooding Derek does. "Try again,"

"Hm, I don't know, Derek but you do realise you technically just admitted to purring." He grins, watching the wolf's lips twitch again and it's beautiful.

Unnatural on Derek's face who he had been so used to seeing in pain or anger, resentment or even sadness but also incredibly beautiful and rewarding to see said face genuinely smiling — even if he was smiling without his teeth.

He's beaming at Derek smiling until the wolf catches him, his face heating up in a ferocious way which Stiles has never seen. 

"Hey don't be—" 

Stiles' phone rings. 

"It's Scott," He tells Derek before swiping to answer, frowning as the smile falls off the wolf's face. "Hey, Scott." 

Derek respects the human's privacy, he closes his ears, figuratively. Although, admittedly, he does hear Scott babbling back to Stiles and he sounds rather tense. 

"She—what?" The human's face twists slightly and he winces, looking over in Derek's direction, which the wolf sees from his periphery vision. "Okay, okay. So...is Peter sorting this out?" 

Again, Derek hears Scott sounding off — stressed. 

"He's...that jackass. He's working with her? And you think she'll disappear after she's figured it all out? Are you sure?" Stiles tugs at his blanket and casts a worried look in Derek's direction. "Right. Bring some clothes from Derek's loft, mine are a little...small. See you soon, buddy." 

Derek busies himself by getting up, folding up the borrowed blankets and placing them in a pile near Stiles' bed. 

"Scott's bringing you some clothes, Peter's working with Kate and Scott thinks it's to get her to go away when she's in control of her... alter ego. I'm not that stupid though, do you think she's really going to disappear? I think not." He tells Derek and finally gets out of bed, smiling as a thanks to the wolf for folding up the blankets. 

"Hopefully, she will."

"Optimistic Derek? That's new." 

The wolf scowls at him and Stiles laughs because he knows that he's not serious. Then he grins because this is a whole new side of Derek that's he's never seen, even if it is the tiniest change. He seems happier, more relaxed, less self-loathing and anger. 

|°|°|°|

Scott arrives in less than an hour, clutching onto a ball of Derek's clothes and heading straight to Stiles' room. He tosses the clothes at Derek, who nods thankfully and begins changing into them. 

Stiles watches his best friend flop down and sit on the bed next to him, tense and stressed still. "What's going on?" 

"She's dead." 

The other wolf, Derek, pauses midway through putting the jeans Scott brought him on. 

"She's what?" Stiles asks, eyes wide and focused on Scott to avoid watching the other getting changed. 

"Peter killed Kate, for real this time. It's over, Stiles, she's gone." He smiles with relief, his head shaking. 

Derek falters, finally dressed in his own clothes — ones that fit. He sways slightly and reaches out for Stiles' desk to steady himself because there's a sharp pain stabbing at his head and his vision is clouding over. He feels like he can't breathe or think properly. 

"Derek? Everything alright?" Stiles asks instantly, standing up and moving towards the wolf. 

"Feel like..." He doesn't finish his sentence and Stiles finds himself gripping onto the wolf's shirt because he drops, collapsing, like he had zero strength left in his body. 

"What—Derek?" Scott gets up, helping Stiles pull the wolf to the bed, because his best friend was human after all and Derek was incredibly heavy in comparison to most others. He was a werewolf after all.

They drag him to Stiles' bed, dropping him down onto the mattress with a light thud. His body is limp until he comes around again, looking weak and sleepy.

Stiles sits on the bed, next to the wolf gripping the man's shoulders lightly. "Hey, hey, what's going on? Derek?" 

The wolf is mostly unresponsive, only grunting slightly until Stiles' hand lands on his face, gently holding his face. 

"Don't close your eyes Derek, look at me." He shakes the wolf's face around and turns to Scott, eyes wild. "I think he's dying, Scott. We've got to do something, _anything_!" 

"Not...dying," Derek manages to tell them, half-conscious but mostly unconscious. 

Scott visibly panics, his brain going into overload as he thinks of something they can do to save Derek. Nothing comes to his head. "Peter. He might know what to do." He dials Peter's number and waits, hearing it ring.

"Oh god, he's—" Stiles feels his face go hot, fresh tears forming in his eyes. "Don't you _dare_ shut those pretty eyes of yours, Derek." 

The wolf breathes in sharply and quietly groans, head lulling against Stiles' pillows. "I-I'm..."

He's pale, sickly pale and sweaty but it doesn't stop Stiles leaning his forehead against Derek's, keeping them close because this is his chance. To tell the wolf that he does have feelings for him, before he dies, as much as he doesn't want to admit it. 

He presses his fingers to Derek's neck, barely feeling a pulse but thankful there is something there. "Derek...I've got to admit something here, now." 

The wolf blinks at him, slowly and smiles softly, teething actually showing. He seems content despite the agonising pain drilling through his entire body and the ringing in his ears. 

"What's happening?" Scott asks quickly, half-pacing. Peter wasn't answering, of course and his best friend has his _Lydia_ face on. 

"He told me his wolf was feeling weaker, something to do with that." He tells his best friend quickly, despite knowing he was partly asking about why he was so worried about the other wolf. He turns his attention back to Derek, closing his eyes and taking in the feeling of Derek's forehead against his own, it was softer than he expected. 

"It looks good on you, Derek. A smile. You've been so strong Derek, you've seen people around you die, get injured and you're my friend, I really fucking care about you. And I know you feel what I feel...and, well, my feelings towards you aren't so much friendly anymore..."

"What are you talk—" Scott starts but pauses because his phone rings. "It's Peter!" 

Stiles doesn't care about Peter. He needs to tell Derek, the dying wolf lying on his bed, how he really feels about him. No more hiding away from his feeling or avoiding them. 

"Peter, Derek's...not well, okay? We don't know what to do. We think he might be...just get here and hurry up!" Impatient Scott was a rare sight to see — even for Stiles — which had him even more worried.

"Alright—okay...Derek," He breathes in sharply, preparing himself to admit everything and wishing he had done this earlier. "I fell in love with you sometime after you saved me from Isaac chewing me to pieces in the police station. It was like I couldn't _stop_ thinking about you after that, like you infected my brain with...well, thoughts of you." 

Scott winces, his best friend smells like a bundle of stress, anxiety, pain warped together. He wasn't stupid, either. He could smell the way Stiles' scent got richer around Derek, like his scent physically changed because he was happy, maybe even a little bit flirty around him.

"Scott," Stiles says again, louder.

The younger wolf blinks. "Sorry, yeah?" 

"Is he in pain? Can you take it away, please? If not for him, for me." He lets a couple of tears fall out of his eyes because this isn't fair. The guy he loves is dying. 

"Okay..." Scott shifts, moving towards the pair willing to help. 

But they both pause before Scott can lay a hand on the older wolf.

Derek's...shifting. 

His bones are cracking, it's not like either of the other two had ever seen. Underneath his eyelids, his eyes are twitching and moving around. His claws grow, his fangs poke out from between his soft lips. 

"D–Derek?" He hates how broken his voice sounds, the way more tears fall out of his eyes, unwarranted. 

Then Derek's getting...hairier. 

"What's happening?" Scott asks, nudging Stiles lightly because he's never seen Derek shift like this.

They both back away when Derek tries to swing for them, his arm flying out as he sits up. The stitches in his clothes break, tearing apart from the seams. 

There's a thud, his body landing on the floor. The human and his best friend turn back to him — Derek would never hurt them. And Derek's—

A wolf. 

He's got dark, ebony coloured fur and his eyes are glowing electric blue. 

It's the most beautiful but strangest thing Stiles has ever seen. He reaches out to touch his fur, patting him lightly on the head, feeling how soft it is and just staring in awe. 

The wolf — Derek — nuzzles up to Stiles' touch and whines lowly. 

"He's wasn't dying." A voice tells them, footsteps following it as they entered the room.

Stiles glances towards his bedroom door, seeing Peter stood in a dark red v-neck t-shirt. He's looking as knowledgable as usual, holding back information that would have saved everyone stress and worry.

"He was evolving," He tells them and steps further into the room. Stopping, he casts a glance towards his nephew and smirks. "Talia was able to do exactly _that_ , when she was alive."

"He learnt how to shift? To properly shift?" Stiles asks, swiping at his eyes. It hasn't really hit him yet, that he had just confessed to Derek Hale that he was in love with _Derek Hale_. 

Peter rolls his eyes, "Yes." 

"You knew—why didn't you tell Scott that on the phone?!" He demands, temporarily pausing from running his hands through Derek's fur. 

Derek sits, huffing. A very needy wolf. 

"I thought you would figure it out, Stiles." The man rolls his eyes again. "You're supposed to be the intelligent one of the pack." 

Stiles scoffs. "How did _you_ find out?"

"Before I killed Kate, again; she told me that there was an accidental side effect of the de-ageing process. Sometimes the process can trigger changes within a wolf, Derek always had the potential to shift like this and the process made it happen." 

Stiles breathes out a sigh and pats Derek-wolf on the head. "I guess he wasn't smart enough to figure it out either, right?" 

Derek half-snarls at him. He's mostly joking as he bares his teeth before huffing and rubbing his head against Stiles' knees. 

"When is he going to change back?" _I think we need to talk_ , he adds in his head. 

Peter shrugs, "I don't know. Talia could change like that whenever she wanted to, I'm sure my nephew is choosing to stay like that."

"Do you think it has anything to do with..." Scott trails off, looking guilty in Stiles' direction. 

"Don't say it," The human responds with a grunt. "He'll turn back when he wants." 

"No, excuse us." Peter holds his hands up, backing towards the door. 

Scott gets it, he follows the older man. Maybe wolf Derek wanted some private time with Stiles after his...confession. 

"Really? You're going to..." 

The pair leave, sliding out of the door before Stiles can protest anymore. So he turns to Derek in his wolf form and frowns. "You're a little shit, Derek. You had me worried."

Silence. 

The wolf is blinking innocently at the human with big, bright eyes. 

He sits down on his bed with a thud. "Are you going to turn back now, so we can...talk?" 

Derek's tugging on one of Stiles' blankets that he had used to sleep the night before.

"Because I think we need to after—" 

There's some more bone cracking and Derek's back again — human Derek. His ruffled ebony hair, obscenely defined muscles and bunny teeth. Yes, Derek is smiling. He sits down on the bed next to Stiles. 

"Oh _god_ —I'm never going to get used to that smile." He snorts, smiling back at the human Derek Hale. 

"I'm glad Isaac almost tried to chew you up." His voice his hoarse and cracked slightly as he spoke. The grin remained on his face as he clutches Stiles' blanket a little tighter. Aside from the blanket, he was completely nude. 

"Yeah...you wouldn't let him touch a hair on my head, would you?" He grins, leaning towards the wolf. 

"I guess not," Derek responds. "Is it true? Are your feelings not-so friendly anymore?" His eyes are hopeful, even if he looks more worried than he ever has done. 

"They're not." Stiles admits, letting Derek take his hand. 

The older man places his lips on Stiles' knuckles and shuts his eyes. "Good." 

He falls into Derek's body, his head against the man's bare chest and sighs. 

"Mine aren't either." He confirms, his voice sending vibrations through Stiles' body. 

Stiles leans his head back and stares in the older man's eyes. "Your wolf is really beautiful, Derek." 

"Thank you," Derek smiles again, his beautiful bunny teeth making an appearance. He presses his lips to Stiles', grinning into their first kiss. 

Stiles pulls away after a short while, unable to stop a smile making its way onto his face. His chest feels warm and there's a content pang on the left side of it. 

"Scott and Peter are talking about food." 

"Oh yeah?" Stiles snorts, gripping onto the older man's hand. "You hungry? You can have half of my left overs." 

"Eggs rolls?" Derek smiles, watching Stiles carefully. 

The pair beam at each other, squeezing each other's hands until they stand up, getting ready to go downstairs and devour the leftovers without sharing any with Peter or Scott. 

He nudges Derek with his elbow, saying "Pfft. Nice try, touch my eggs rolls, I dare you."

**Author's Note:**

> I finally learnt how to get italics — whoop!
> 
> Let me know if there’s any errors, I’ll fix them!:)
> 
> Another chapter or leave it as it is?


End file.
